Connecticut is seeing rapid growth in a statewide program that offers automatic college admission to qualifying high school seniors.

New data shows more than 19,000 students received an admissions offer in the 2024-2025 school year through the Connecticut Automatic Admissions Program, which began in the 2023-2024.

How does it work?

The program allows Connecticut high school seniors with a weighted GPA of 3.0 or an unweighted GPA of 2.75 to receive automatic acceptance to participating colleges and universities. Students still need to submit a simplified application to claim their spot, but they receive the acceptance up front.

The following colleges and universities currently participate:

• Central Connecticut State University
• Eastern Connecticut State University
• Southern Connecticut State University
• Western Connecticut State University
• Albertus Magnus College
• Goodwin University
• Mitchell College
• University of Bridgeport
• University of Hartford
• University of New Haven

Central Connecticut State University junior Brianna Renna said she never believed college was possible until learning she qualified.

“It’s kind of nerve-racking because, of course, the anxiety is like, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to make it, even though I had the GPA for it, I had everything I needed’,” Renna said. “But it was like ‘Yes! I made it!’”

A paradigm shift for college admissions

It’s an experience more Connecticut students are having. The program is run through the Common App, an online platform that allows students to apply to colleges and universities with a single application.

Jenny Rickard, CEO of the Common App, said the direct admissions model is gaining traction nationally.

“What this does is really say right out of the gate: ‘you have options,’” Rickard said.

The CEO said that many students fear judgment during application review in the admissions process: “That is the big psychological barrier for students who also don’t realize that most colleges admit most of their applicants.”

Reaching new students

The latest numbers show the program is reaching key student groups. First‑generation and low‑income students were twice as likely to respond to their automatic admissions offer compared with other students, according to a new Common App report.

“It really flips the whole narrative. The student becomes the selective one because they’ve got so many choices,” Rickard said. “To give students more agency and confidence, I think, is the most important part of this program because they can then take advantage of the opportunities that they deserve.”

The benefit for colleges

Administrators at Connecticut State Colleges and Universities said the school has seen a big increase in applications for the program.

By December 2025, Central, Eastern, Southern, and Western Connecticut State Universities received a total of 12,385 applications.

From November 2024 to 2025, applications under the program increased nearly 20%, according to data provided by CSCU.

Roughly 2,000 students enrolled via the program last year.

“We know we’re absolutely going to blow that number out of the water,” said Dr. John Maduko, Interim Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Chancellor.

He said the program removes barriers that often discourage students.

“It’s never been about intelligence or lack of ability. It’s always been about these barriers,” Maduko said.

The state system is waiving application fees, essays, and letters of recommendation.

“Those are barriers, right? So when it’s income, then we have income-dependent families. You have to be selective on the number of institutions here to apply to,” Maduko said. “The CAAP program eliminates that barrier and gives more choices and options of destinations to the students.”

Metrics to watch

The report states that only 46% completed the application to at least one institution that extended them an offer.

Leaders say the next priority is expanding outreach and communication, which is already underway this school year. (The admissions data in the report were from the 2024-2025 school year.)

Read the report in full here:

Interim Chancellor Maduko said CSCU had more intentional outreach this year with high school district partners about inconsistencies in the application process.

“As a system, we always have to create the right conditions to make this process conducive and accessible and approachable for families,” Maduko said.

Rickard at Common App said helping students understand the opportunity is key.

“A big learning is to make sure that you have the people within the community who are supporting students, help them understand what this opportunity is,” she said.

Empowering students

Rickard said this is reversing some of the stressors around the enrollment process for students.

“The fact this is not only streamlining the process, but it is empowering students is huge,” Rickard said.

She talked about research from a decade ago that found counselors and applicants never used words to describe the application process as simple, logical, joyful, or equitable.

With this program and others like it around the country, the tide is changing.

“Where I get really excited about this particular initiative is that it’s simple. Hopefully it’s logical. It’s joyful in that there’s confetti in advance, right? You know you have an opportunity. And then equitable, because we’re really focused on that first generation and low-income community in terms of trying to make the process more equitable for them,” Rickard said.   

State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, along with fellow Sen. James Maroney, say they will be introducing a bill to ban the use of facial recognition software in Connecticut retail stores next month, when the 2026 legislative session begins.

While both Stop & Shop and Stew Leonard’s tell News 12 they do not use the technology, the ShopRite on Connecticut Avenue in Norwalk does, with a sign next to the entrance.

“I don’t like it, it’s invading my privacy,” said Agapi Theodoridou, a shopper there, “I don’t trust them.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for ShopRite’s parent company notes that security cameras have been used for years in retail stores, and “today, advances in technology — including biometrics — allow retailers to better identify organized retail crime and repeat offenders in stores, helping security respond more quickly and effectively to threats.”

“I understand sometimes their need for it and whatever, as long as its not used improperly,” said Gene Cronin, another ShopRite customer.

Meanwhile, Wegmans tells News 12 that it uses facial recognition at some locations that have what the company calls “an elevated risk.”

But while their stores in New York City with the cameras have signs, which are required by law there, Wegmans would not answer whether or not it was also being used at the Norwalk location, with a spokesperson saying “for security and safety purposes, we do not get into the specific measures used at each store.”

“At least they should say so people have the opportunity, so people have the opportunity to react accordingly,” responded Robert Luzzi, a Wegmans shopper.

“Nobody signed up for a facial scan when they go to buy milk and eggs at the store, so we need to have disclosure,” agreed Duff. “Security is one thing, and I totally understand that, and the other issue is more of a personal privacy issue, and that’s what we’re trying to concentrate on.”

Duff says when it comes to facial recognition, there are too many unregulated issues and questions right now, explaining “We don’t know who owns the data, how long it’s being stored for, is it sold to a third party? Is that being used – this information to do dynamic pricing – I pay one price, you pay a different price?”

As far as ShopRite is concerned, the spokesperson tells News 12 that the technology is only used for security, and while the data may be shared with law enforcement if there is a crime, it is also “regularly” deleted, and never sold.

Wegmans also says that at the stores where facial recognition is used, the data is not shared with third parties.

“We’re going to have public hearings, we’re going to seek input from experts, we’re going to seek input from retailers, we’re going to seek input from customers,” said Duff. “If there’s other ways in which we can move forward together, then we’ll be talking about that, and hopefully we’ll be coming up with a workable compromise.”